What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after a broad-based sell-off hit the semiconductor sector following news of a potential strike at Samsung and a stake sale by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), which rattled global chip supply chains.
These events highlighted significant supply-chain risks, triggering a sharp reversal across the chip industry. Adding to the sector's weakness were rising valuation concerns, inflation fears, and broader market jitters that led to renewed selling pressure on major companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Micron Technology.
Furthermore, ongoing supply constraints for rare earth materials, which are used in semiconductor manufacturing, reportedly caused delays and higher input costs for firms in the sector, compounding the negative sentiment for chip-related stocks.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Analog Semiconductors company MACOM (NASDAQ: MTSI) fell 5.8%. Is now the time to buy MACOM? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) fell 5.7%. Is now the time to buy Applied Materials? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Photronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) fell 5.4%. Is now the time to buy Photronics? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On MACOM (MTSI)
MACOM’s shares are very volatile and have had 21 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock dropped 4.5% after the hot April CPI sent Treasury yields higher, eliminating 2026 rate-cut hopes, a direct headwind for high-multiple growth stocks.
Semiconductor companies sell into long-cycle hardware demand, but their stocks behave like growth equities, valued on future earnings. The discount rate investors apply to those future earnings is set by Treasury yields. When yields rise, as they did during the day on the hot CPI print, the present value of future earnings falls mechanically, compressing the price-to-earnings multiple investors are willing to pay.
MACOM is up 102% since the beginning of the year, and at $352.95 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $383.56 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of MACOM’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $7,003.
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